


Some Kind of... What Was I Thinking?

by igotanobsession



Series: It Takes Time - Betty x Jughead [1]
Category: Riverdale (TV 2017)
Genre: Awkward Tension, F/M, First Kiss, Inspired by a Movie, Jealousy, Practice Kissing, Pre-Canon, Secret Crush, Teen Angst, Unrequited Crush, Unrequited Love
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-06-15
Updated: 2017-06-15
Packaged: 2018-11-14 08:49:28
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,039
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/11204556
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/igotanobsession/pseuds/igotanobsession
Summary: Pre-canon, set in the summer before Jason Blossom's death and Betty's internship. What if Jughead and Betty's first kiss wasn't actually their first kiss? When Betty confides in Jughead that she's worried her secret crush will think her too inexperienced a kisser, Jughead offers to help her practice, even though he knows that her crush is Archie and thinks that those two are endgame. Basically, he thinks he's doomed. Loosely inspired by fabulous 80s teen romance Some Kind of Wonderful.





	Some Kind of... What Was I Thinking?

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first Bughead fic! Yay :) Oh, and... I own nothing. I wanted to write something pre-canon to kind of explain the look that Jughead gives Betty when he sees her at Pop's at the end of 1x02.

“So this is your lair,” Betty breathily exclaimed, her trademark blonde ponytail bouncing as she scanned the small projector room of The Twilight with enthusiasm. “It seems like you.”

Jughead tilted his head down to look at a random spot on the floor rather than face Betty’s gaze. He felt her green eyes dismantling him with every detail she took in, from the squished popcorn on the ground to the unwashed laundry hiding under his Algebra II book which he barely opened during freshman year. _This was a bad idea,_ he thought, as he focused a little too intently on the overdue copy of _On the Road_ by Kerouac in the corner of the room. _A very bad idea._

Jughead had been spending a bit more time with Betty, since Archie had been busy since school got out working as a day laborer at Mr. Andrews’ site, but that didn’t mean that he was ready to share his sanctuary at The Twilight with her. Even Archie hadn’t been up to the projector room.

He felt as though the room had gotten so much smaller, with her in there, soaking up every last detail.

“Juggie – this place reminds me so much of that fort we made summer of fifth grade. Remember?”

He lifted his eyes to hers, his mouth forming a snarky smile.

“I don’t recall you being part of the ‘we’ that built that amazing structure,” he said, crossing his arms across his chest.

“I did too!” she said, moving closer to give him a little punch in the bicep. “If you don’t recall, I carried a lot of rocks all the way from the creek – which was like, a mile away or something – so that we could have a fence around the fort.”

Jughead’s face lit up as he let out one of his characteristically smug chuckles. “And why do you think we needed a fence?”

“Uh… so that it marked off our territory for our clubhouse. Right?”

Betty’s brows furrowed cutely, as she realized that she was the butt of a joke that had lasted since the summer after fifth grade. Jughead almost felt bad, but loved it when she made that pouty face she made. Jughead pushed a wavy dark lock out of his face, to enjoy the full view of Betty’s indignance.

“Mmm… it’s more like Archie and I wanted to build the fort our way, so we came up with something to distract you.”

“You guys are jerks!” Betty exclaimed, grinning widely. “I cannot believe you two!”

“Actually, don’t blame Archie. That idea was all me.”

Betty sat on the stool near the projector’s window and shook her head, looking out over the empty and dilapidated drive-in. She was still smiling, at first, but then Jughead watched her smile slowly fade away. He had gone from just starting to feel comfortable with her presence, back to the feeling that she had opened a door the he hadn’t wanted opened.

“Are you frowning over that guy at school, again?” Jughead swallowed down his discomfort with this subject, for Betty’s sake.

Betty turned a little pink and rolled her eyes, shrugging.

He knew that the ‘guy’ she’d been confiding with him about for the last week was Archie Andrews. He knew it and discovered – over the course of the last week of hangouts at Pop’s – that he wasn’t particularly thrilled. In fact, for reasons that he couldn’t quite get and just ascribed to misplaced juvenile hormonal impulses, the thought of Archie and Betty put a pit in his stomach.

“I guess.”

“What is it, now?” he asked, stepping a bit closer.

“You’re going to hate me.”

“I doubt it, Betty Cooper.”

“Well, what if I’m not quite experienced enough for him?”

It was Jughead’s turn to frown. “What do you mean, ‘experienced’?”

“You know,” she said, tilting her head as she avoided eye contact with Jughead. “Like, kissing and umm… other stuff.”

“Is he some sort of sex god, or something?” Jughead asked with an uncomfortable laugh. _Dear God, this is about to get weird._ _Why, oh, why am I thinking this? Stop it._ Jughead tried desperately to get the image from his dream of Betty out of his head, but the very mention of the word ‘sex’, even in jest, fixed it squarely in his mind.

“Don’t make fun of me, Juggie. I’m totally serious.”

“Well, I wouldn’t worry about it. If he’s the amazing guy that you say he is, he’ll be perfectly happy with you just as you are.”

“Yeah, yeah, yeah,” she said with another eye roll, “But what if my first kiss with him is weird? I could totally ruin it with him…”

“That’s impossible.”

“It’s not.”

“Fine, so you’re worried that you’re not a good enough kisser or whatever. Why not… practice?”

As soon as the words came out of his mouth, Jughead regretted them. All of a sudden he felt overwhelmed by a huge flash of heat which went from his chest up to his neck and then down to his arms. He wanted to run away, but became frozen in place. His eyes immediately went down to the floor to examine his beat up shoes.

“With whom?” Betty asked quietly. Jughead could sense that she was staring at him, and suddenly he got so hot that he had to take off his beanie. He ran a hand through his hair, debating with each breath whether or not to finish the original thought.

“With me,” he said, before he could stop himself. _Idiot!_ _What are you doing!?_

There was a great silence. When it became unbearable, Jughead peeked up at her, only to see her emerald eyes looking at him in an entirely different way. He wasn’t sure what way that was, and was just about to turn on his heel and head to the other side of the room, when she grabbed for his shirt sleeve.

“Wait a sec, Juggie,” she said, biting the plump flesh of her glossy lip. “Are you joking or would you really… ?”

Jughead’s pulse quickened. He didn’t know what it was that kept him there. He knew that she had her heart set on Archie. It was nearly a fact that Archie and Betty were meant to happen. Still, the way she gripped on to his shirt sleeve just then and looked at him with those amazing eyes of hers overrode that small detail.

“I’m not an expert, or anything. But I think that I can judge what a good kiss is.”

“Do you promise that you won’t tell anyone? And I mean NOBODY. Not even… Archie?”

“You know I won’t,” he said, his voice suddenly getting stuck in his throat. _Is this actually happening?_ He suddenly was hyper aware of everything, from the way her grip tightened on his shirt to the way that her breathing seemed to speed up in sync with his. He tried hard not to give himself away, as he had struggled to over the past week, but found himself studying her perfectly formed mouth. He was transfixed as he saw her lips slightly part, and it made him get warm all over.

He stepped a little closer to Betty, who had let go of his shirt only to start wringing her hands together.

“This is crazy,” she said softly, almost in a whisper. “I mean, like, how do we even start?”

Jughead swallowed his fear down.

“Well, it’s your first kiss with this guy. I know it’s hard to imagine, but pretend that I’m him. Where do you put your hands?”

“Umm, I don’t know…” Betty said, flushing all pink again, and looking away.

Jughead set his hat down on the counter and inhaled deeply, steeling himself. He stepped even closer to her, until he could feel her body radiating heat.

“Try cupping my face with your hand.”

Betty took a tentative hand and reached out toward Jughead’s face, only to snatch her hand back and bite her lip fiercely. She smiled to herself, tightened her ponytail and sat up straighter. Jughead’s heart beat faster as she slowly reached up to cup his cheek. He closed his eyes for a moment at her touch, until he remembered that this wasn’t supposed to be real. “Okay, so I’m going to put my hands on your waist.”

“Okay…” she said, smiling adorably, “do I have to keep my hand on your face?”

Jughead nervously put his hands on her waist, nodding yes. His hands were just lightly resting on her waist until they weren’t. He was about to say the next direction, but he could hear her breath hitch in anticipation as his hands gripped onto her waist, and before he could get the words out of his mouth, he was done for. He realized how close that they were, how good that she smelled, and how perfect that her touch was on his skin. He leaned in to her then, and she leaned in to him. He took one last glance from her soft, parted lips to her heavily lidded eyes and then he kissed her.

It was almost chaste, at first, their lips only just meeting. Then, he felt it all change. Both of her hands were now on him, as she wrapped her arms about his neck pulling her into an embrace. His hands moved down to her hips, just as he’d dreamt, gripping on to her body with no intention of letting go. He tested her lips with his tongue and found her opening her mouth more to his. Without even meaning to, his hands went down to her ass, gripping on to the edges of her jean pockets. He heard her softly moan into his mouth in response and he kissed her harder. She had pulled him in so close that he couldn’t imagine not being this close to her, forever. It was almost unreal, how badly he wanted to hear her moan again.  But when her hands moved up to comb her fingers through his hair, an unbidden image in his mind shocked him out of their kiss, causing him to pull away fast: Archie’s face.

“Okay, I think that’s good. You’re good. I mean, you’re great,” he said, stumbling awkwardly over his own feet and for coherency.

“Juggie…” Betty whispered, her pouty frown coming back, but with her lips swollen from all of the ‘practice’ they got, “you’re not going to tell anyone, right?”

“No, nope, no way,” Jughead exclaimed, suddenly standoffish and looking at the ground. _She was thinking about Archie when she was kissing me. I know it._

“Is everything okay?” Betty asked, sliding off the stool and stepping cautiously toward him. _Too close. She’s too close_. Jughead took a small step back. _She was thinking about Archie when she moaned, too._

“Yeah, totally. I’m fine. And… just so you know, I don’t think that… whoever that this guy is… I know he won’t think you’re a bad kisser.”

_Shut up, Jughead Jones._

The silence seemed to stretch on forever. He looked cautiously up toward her. “For what it’s worth, Jug, you’re… not so bad, yourself. I’d even say—”

“Look. Just don’t say it.”

Betty took a tiny step toward him, which only caused Jughead to step that much farther back.

“Okay,” she said, her voice tinged with something that could be either pity or disappointment, “I’ll see you tomorrow at Pop’s right? It’s my last day before I head out to my internship.”

Betty took one last long look at Jughead, which he could swear was both too long and too short all at once. He hated how she looked at him just then, with her large mournful eyes and her pursed, downturned mouth. And apparently she could see that he hated that look.

“Tomorrow, Juggie. At Pop’s. Don’t make me come looking for you,” she said, her voice as still and careful as he'd ever heard it.

Jughead found that he couldn’t speak. He didn’t want to lie to her and say that he’d go. He was sure that Archie was going to be there, and he didn’t want to see him and her together at the same time. _What did I think would happen?_

“Bye, Betty Cooper.”

 


End file.
